I'm puzzled by this word. I started to use it as though it had its original Latin meaning, i.e. a walk or journey, but thought to look it up first. To my surprise, my dictionary did NOT have that definition! I found that the base Latin word, iter was only used in American English to mean an anatomical pathway. Can anyone explain the semantic perigrinations of iteration? How about in British English?

I've only heard iteration in use in calculations, to denote one complete cycle. Say you have a calculation (which could be a bit of software) which does the same thing over and over again, each run through would be an iteration...

Ros

Re-iteration seems to be used instead of repeat on the BBC at the moment.

Acording to the OED, iterate means to repeat or state repeatedly (from the Latin, iterare itself from iterum (again).

The definition of reiterate seems to be almost exactly the same.

Maybe this is a word that has a similar (although probably older) genesis to that of "irregardless" (which, fortunately, has not yet found its way into the OED)

Richard English

Richard, we had this discussion before, and, to everyone's dismay, "irregardless" does appear in the OED.

I agree it's in the full OED but I generally use the concise. Even in the full OED the word is shown as non-standard.

Richard English

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Originally posted by Richard English:
Acording to the OED, iterate means to repeat or state repeatedly (from the Latin, iterare itself from iterum (again).

The definition of reiterate seems to be almost exactly the same.Richard English

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Thank you for putting my mind at ease. Every time I hear people sat re-iterate when they mean repeat, I think they really mean iterate. Its definitely a pet peeve, so it is good to know I am right.

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Originally posted by Richard English:
I agree it's in the full OED but I generally use the concise. Even in the full OED the word is shown as non-standard.

Richard English

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Richard will correct me if I'm wrong, but the OED, as the dictionary of record, sees itself as descriptive, not prescriptive. Thus anything that people say or write -- good, bad or indifferent -- will be found in there. There are plenty of citations for the possessive it's, for example.

So "because it's in the OED" should not be seen as any sort of endorsement. If one wants some guidance as to "good" English, something like the COED (or any reputable equivalent) is far preferable.

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So "because it's in the OED" should not be seen as any sort of endorsement. If one wants some guidance as to "good" English, something like the COED

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That's a first for me. I have always considered the OED my gold standard for words, and I haven't even heard of the COED.

And, "irregardless" appears in the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1993), too. Now, as I said in that previous thread, I don't agree with the use of "irregardless"; yet, it does appear in most dictionaries. Is it in COED?

Not in my edition (1995) although I really ought get a newer one.

Richard English